According to the prior art, such cavities are filled with so-called bone substitutes. The following bone substitutes are used: hydroxyapatite and/or tricalcium sulfate, minerals containing calcium, in powder, paste or microgranule form or in another form.
The bone substitutes—inserted in the bone cavities to be filled—solidify, thus creating a hard substance which, by filling the cavity, restores the integrity of the bone.
Nevertheless, even when solidified, these materials cannot ensure the same mechanical characteristics as the natural bone tissue.
Consequently, even in the reassembled and healed bone, the portion made of bone substitute has lower hardness than the rest of the bone tissue and represents a weakening zone for the entire bone.
Some known technical solution, such as the one disclosed in US2006/0084930, make use of absorbable material defined by a multilayered fabric which could also be usable for repairing bone lost due to disease or injury; according to said solution, prior the disposing of the tissue, a site for implantation has to be prepared so as to dispose inside it the tissue.
Other solution, as disclosed in GB2259252, make use of a biomedical material defined by a flexible fiber-meshed micro tube suitable for being inserted into the space defined by the defect of the bone; said tube is disclosed as having a well-defined diameter comprised in a specific range in order not to make difficult the insertion of the tube into the bone defect.
Other known solution making use of absorbable material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,665 which describes a tubular article which can be used for bone or ligament repair and which, for the implantation, requires the forming of a passage on the bones through which said tubular article is inserted.
As can be noticed also said solutions, although disclosing the use of absorbable material, they all require a specific and precise realization of a site for the insertion of the material.
There are two basic types of knit fabrics—weft knits and warp knits—and it's the direction in which the yarns making up the fabric are looped that determines which type of knit the fabric is.
FIG. 2 Shows a Weft knit. A weft knit is made with a single yarn looped horizontally to from a row, or course, with each row building on the previous one. A hand-knitted fabric is a weft knit.
FIG. 3 shows a Warp knit. A wrap knit is made with numerous parallel yarns that are looped vertically at the same time.